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Comment Explorer allows you to add and view Comments for files in Explorer.It's written as a Hotkey Tray App to avoid Shell Extension Hell. Should workon Windows XP and later both 32 and 64 bit.

It requires Scripting.Dictionary be available on the machine.Up and Down Arrow Keys in Explorer Window will show theComment for the file in a ToolTip if it exists. If not, it willshow the file path of the selected file/folder.

To add a Comment, press Shift-F11.

Note that it uses the Dictionary with the file path as key.Therefore if you change the file name or copy to anotherfolder, drive, the association is broken.

The program is implemented using AutoHotkey_L. Sinceanything compiled in AutoHotkey_L is triggering falsepositives in av scanners, the source code and customicon is included in the download. You can downloadAutoHotkey_L and compile it yourself.

Thanks. If you have 1.2.0.0 download again. I just posted 1.3.0.0. Added a crude Backup command to tray menu. Just copies comment file to another in the folder.It's a good reason to try out the Check for Updates menu command.

Note: copying the files to another machine is problematic if the drive letter changes. One thing that can help is if you can keep the same folder structure underneath the drive letter then you could just do text substitution in the comment file.

If you have a 32 bit system my TipOff utility is more comprehensive. It has Copy With Comment shell extensions to copy files with comments to a different folder etc.. But it uses a comment data file with .tof extension in each folder to avoid the drive letter issue.

If you have download folders under C:\downloads or something similar, this should be fine just for associating a note with your download.

With TipOff your notes can be up to 4 KB in length instead of one input line.

The comment should appear near the mouse cursor and time out after 4 seconds. I find it easier to move the mouse to the caption bar. If the mouse cursor is over a file name, then Windows will show a tool tip on its own. Then it gets confusing.

TipOff will run on a 64 bit machine if you use a 32 bit file manager such as FreeCommander.

The comment files are not interchangeable. TipOff uses a file in each folder where you make a comment using just the file name as key. CommentExplorer uses one data file for the whole system and uses the complete path as key (e.g. "c:\downloads\myfile.zip" instead of just "myfile.zip") The drive letter thing is a royal pita.

I had the file name show as ToolTip near the mouse cursor in the beginning so that I could get feedback. It's time to only show the ToolTip when there's a comment. Also instead of showing the ToolTip at the mouse cursor I'll likely anchor it to some part of the active window frame.

I agree it's a bit confusing as it is now.Thanks for trying it out. I'll try to make it more usable.

Comment Explorer 1.4.0.0 Now it only shows the ToolTip when a Comment is available. The ToolTip shows near the top left corner of the active window. That should get it out of conflict with Windows ToolTips that show when you hover the mouse.

The ToolTip disappears when you hit the Up or Down key. It times out in 5 seconds otherwise.Here's a screen shot:

The next modification will likely be time out adjustment via .ini file setting.

Comment Explorer 1.6.0.0 Now Clipboard text is saved when Up and Down keys are active in Explorer. Renaming files in Explorer using the Up and Down keys should work as expected. Non text data is not preserved.

Comment Explorer 1.7.0.0 Now several files/folders may be selected for commenting.

Press Shift-F11 hotkey to comment selected files/folders. The InputBox will be displayed in a loop with the base filename of the current item included in the prompt. Pressing Cancel, Esc, or closing the InputBox without entering a comment will abort the remainder of the commenting loop.

Note that if you select a folder and press Shift-F11, the comment will be for the folder itself. All items in the folder will not be commented. (A folder containing 400 files, man I'd be too tired to type in all that!)

edit: I doubt this would come into play in real-world use. The exit routine checks a flag to see if the comment file is being worked. A purge operation perhaps. The system is shut down or the user logs off. The exit routine sets a timer to call itself again in one second. This allows a chance for the file operation to complete. I suppose it could happen if Comment Explorer was on a slow USB key drive. But I think you'd still have to enter a hell of a lot of comments before it came into play.

I'm still mulling over the easiest way to implement and use Copy File(s) with Comment(s). If anyone has any ideas feel free to post. The drag & drop built into Windows requires a shell extension. Been there, done that with TipOff. The Hotkey approach has the advantage of using the clipboard.

For example I could add a Hotkey to copy selected files and add entries to the comment file for the new location. Perhaps Control-F11. It could show BrowseForFolder Dialog or another approach. BrowseForFolder isn't so bad as long as it has the input line at the bottom. That way instead of clicking down the tree the target path can be pasted.